Portfolio/Problem Solving Resources

Elementary
& Middle Level Guide
NOTE: Minor revisions have been made to this guide that
do not impact the actual scoring of student work. The
revisions are designed to provide clarification and
consistency in the language used in the guide.

Using Writing
and Mathematics Portfolios to Improve Student
Learning
Developed by the department's Standards & Assessment
division as a companion to an announcement of a change in
past writing and mathematics calibration practice, this
three-part document details an effort to support schools in
their use of writing and mathematics portfolios for both
local assessment and instructional purposes. This includes a
vision for using portfolios to improve student learning,
resources made available by the department, and suggested
models for the implementation of the vision in both
mathematics and writing.

Mathematics Portfolio Data
Analysis Tool
This tool is designed for teachers, schools and districts
using mathematics portfolios for local assessment purposes
in grades K-12. The tool allows teachers to input student
scores for each criteria beneath the content strand each
portfolio task addresses, and automatically creates pie
charts showing the percentage of students who performed at
each level. The tool may be used to graph the performance
of a class, a subgroup of students in a class or school, a
grade or grade cluster, or the performance of individual
children. If using this tool for an individual child, users
would insert the name of each portfolio task in the field
below 'student name'. The tool will automatically create a
pie chart showing the score point percentage for each
criterion.

Calibration(Updated
1/23/08)
Use this link to view the 2007 calibration set that
includes tasks for grades K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and
high school. Each set includes 2 warm up pieces and 10
tasks as well as scores and rationales. The calibration
sets offer numerous possibilities for supporting teachers
in refining their scoring practices as well as providing
opportunities to define professional development
needs.

Permission to Use Student
Work Letter
The department is always seeking samples of student work to
use in professional development with teachers. No student
work is used without parental permission. Educators can
download this letter for parents to sign, giving permission
to use the work of their child for purposes of teacher
training. All identifying information is removed from the
work before it is used.